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Foodborne Illness

What You Should Know

By Michele St. Martin

Food recalls are often in the news; most of us have become familiar with words like "Listeria" and "E.coli." We're wary of foods like Caesar salad dressing and homemade mayonnaise that contain raw eggs, and many restaurants refuse to serve hamburgers cooked rare. OK, so we're wary, but how much do we really know about foodborne contaminates?

According to Mary Wenberg of the United States Department of Agriculture's (USDA) Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS), the federal agency that is charged with ensuring the safety of meat, poultry and eggs, there are four types of food contaminates:

• Pathogenic Bacteria -- examples include E. coli, salmonella, and shigellosis
• Parasitic Protozoa and Worms -- examples include giardiasis, toxoplasmosis, and trichinosis
• Viruses -- examples include hepatitis A, rotavirus, and viral gastroenteritis
• Natural Toxins -- examples include pesticides, poisonous mushrooms and poisonous reef fishes

According to the FSIS, "the purpose of a recall is to remove meat or poultry from commerce when there is reason to believe it may be adulterated (injurious to health or unfit for human consumption) or misbranded (false or misleading labeling and/or packaging). Even when the food has been previously inspected and passed by FSIS, a recall is necessary when new information becomes available indicating a possible public health issue."

FSIS learns about contaminated or mislabeled foods in a variety of ways: the food's distributor of manufacturer may inform them; test results of samples taken by FSIS; FSIS staff may learn or observe something that leads to the discovery; consumers may complain; or information from other government agencies, including state and local health departments or federal agencies.

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